Watch the Wind Blow By
by Relatively Unknown
Summary: Poor Shikamaru. He never has a chance when Ino wants something. Still, he never thought he'd end up on a kareoke stage. ShikaIno


**A/N**: Yup, I'm still alive. I know I don't submit as much as I used to, but things have  
been getting a bit hectic. And since I'm in Writing Fiction, my urge to write is getting out  
of my system before I want it to:grr: But I will try to be around at least once a month.  
Hopefully. 

The song is "Watch the Wind Blow By" by Tim McGraw. This is also my first ShikaIno  
fic.

Oh, and happy birthday, Naruto!

Enjoy.

****

SANITIZED: LYRICS HAVE BEEN REMOVED. THIS IS THE FFNET APPROVED, SANITARY, MADE-FOR-KIDDIES VERSION. TO VIEW THE ORIGINAL, GO TO MY SITE AND VENTURE UNDER "THE WORKS" AND THE APPROPRIATE SHOW.

* * *

_I can't believe I'm doing this,_ Shikamaru thought. _How in the hell did I get here?_ He  
knew the answer to that. It involved a conversation he and Ino had earlier that day...

**FLASHBACK**

"Shika? How come you never sing to me?" Shikamaru blinked for a moment. How  
should he answer this? Bah, it was too troublesome to think this one through. He wanted  
just to go back to cloud watching, ignoring the blonde that sat beside him in the grass, but  
he knew better. Sighing, he answered her.

"Because I can't sing."

"You're lying." Had he the energy to do so, he would've rolled his eyes. "I've heard you,  
you know. You're actually good. So why don't you sing to me?"

Mentally growling to himself about troublesome women, he propped himself up on his  
elbows and looked at her. "What brought this up?"

"Well, Sakura told me--"

"Ack, stop right there. I don't need to know any more about her and Sasuke's relationship  
than I already do, and that in of itself is too much," he said, flopping back down. When  
no angry retort or scolding came, he looked over. _Ah, crap,_ he thought, _she's pouting._ As  
chants of _dammit_ ran through his mind, he told her, "Fine. What did Sakura say?"

"Sakura says that Sasuke sings to her every night! _And_ she says that Naruto sings to  
Hinata constantly, even though he's horrible at it. I know, I've heard him," Ino confided,  
making a face. "Every guy sings to his girl! Why don't you?"

"Does Neji sing to TenTen? Asuma-sensei to Kurenai?" he asked, trying to point out that  
not all guys sang to their girls.

"Probably," she said, pouting again. This time, he resisted the urge to smack himself for  
trying to use any form of logic with Ino.

"Look, I'm not a singer. Do I sing to myself sometimes? Sure, but that's because I want  
to," he realized his mistake a second too late.

"You don't want to sing to me?" Ino said, her voice trembling. The tears were spilling out  
of her eyes again. "You don't love me, do you! You hate me!"

_You walked into that one, genius,_ he told himself. "Ino, I don't hate you, and you know  
that. I didn't mean it the way it sounded. If you must know, I hate singing in front of  
people, okay? I get nervous and about give myself a heartache from _being_ nervous." He  
sat up and stared at the ground. "I guess you could you say I'm stage-frightened."

"No, you're just lazy," she said. He breathed a sigh of relief. If she was criticizing him,  
then she had to be feeling better. He was curious now, though, and decided to ask. He just  
had to be careful how he said it.

"Ino, why does it mean so much to you?" he asked, making sure his voice was soft. She  
shrugged.

"It's just that everyone seems to have the perfect relationship, you know? Like the ones in  
those romance novels that Sakura and I read. And one of the things the guys always do is  
sing to their girl. It's as if everyone has that and I don't," she replied. He didn't take the  
remark too deeply; he knew what she meant. "I mean, c'mon, Sasuke? Singing? I don't  
think even Sakura can believe it."

"It really means that much to you?" he found himself asking. She nodded. Had he lost his  
mind? He really did care about Ino, and would do anything for her, but did it include  
singing? "Okay, Ino, I'll do it."

**END FLASHBACK**

What he hadn't known was that right after he promised to do that, she pouted and pleaded  
for him to do it at the kareoke bar. He had flat-out refused, but here was on stage anyhow.  
Sometimes, he swore that Ino could take over an entire country by herself.

The worse thing about it all? She had called everyone she could get ahold of, and they _all_  
had managed to show up. Even Neji sat there, scowling. Probably because Asuma was  
next to him chainsmoking, making Neji gag. Shikamaru felt just as sick, and was  
seriously thinking about finding some way of knocking himself out. But, he had promised  
Ino, and he knew there would be serious hell to pay if he didn't deliver. He had made that  
error once, and he still had the bruising from it!

So, sure enough, when his name was called, he gritted his teeth and walked out on stage.  
Everyone was staring at him. _Don't hyperventilate, just breathe..._ he thought. It quickly  
became, _BREATHE, GENIUS, BREATH!_ He sucked in a deep breath and forced himself  
to be calm. He was a ninja, for cryin' out loud, this should be cakewalk. _C'mon, this is for  
Ino. Make her happy and she'll let you watch clouds all day..._

"The song..." he tried to say, but his voice wouldn't work. He shot a glance to Ino, her  
eyes both looking hopeful and threatening at the same time. He dry-swallowed and tried  
again. "The song I'm singing is called "Watch the Wind Blow By". I'm sure by now you  
know it's for Ino," he said. He nodded to the DJ.

_MISSING WORDS_

He found that after the first few lines, his nervousness began dying away. By the end of  
the first stanza, he was almost as relaxed as Naruto on a sugar high. Okay, he was doing  
pretty good and he was calming down. He closed his eyes, too worried that he'd catch a  
look from Ino or someone else and freeze up.

_MISSING WORDS_

He had actually chosen this song for the lyrics. They described he and Ino perfectly, he  
thought, and it definitely described his thoughts towards her. Plus, and this was a big one,  
it was the type of song that Ino would love. Well... he hoped.

_MISSING WORDS_

He was comfortable now, and risked opening his eyes. He immediately looked at Ino,  
who was crying. He didn't panic, though; she had a big smile on her face. He couldn't  
help but smile back at her, an action that, despite its common appearance around her, he  
still wasn't used to doing so often. For that, he sang the rest of the song to her, his eyes  
not wavering from hers once.

_MISSING WORDS_

Unable to help himself, as he the music faded away he winked at her. Ino raised an  
eyebrow, then while the room had erupted into applause (mostly from the girls), he  
watched as she ran up to the stage and leaped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his  
waist. She kissed him long and hard, and he returned it fully, not caring about the loud  
wolf-whistles and cheers (all from the guys).

"I love you," she said, after they broke. The smile only grew in size on his face.

"I love you, too," he said. He then grew serious. "But if you _ever_ try to make me do that again,  
I will get ANBU protection from you, got it?"

"What if we're alone?" she purred. He smirked at her, then gave her a suggestive look.  
"In that case, I'm in the mood for a little wind-watching, aren't you?"

"Always, Ino. Always."

* * *

**A/N**: Okay, so there it is. I know, it's probably not one of my best, but it's ShikaIno and  
you gotta love that. :grin: I'm with Ino on this one. I can't imagine Sasuke singing,  
either, even though I have written him doing just that. Naruto, though? Yeah, definitely.  
Most definitely.

You know the drill. Review time! And, as always, flames are fine.


End file.
